Chicken Corn Chowder with Italian Bread Bowls

Tonight I made a very delicious meal! Brady and I fell in love with corn chowder soup at BYU-I and I decided to try to make it. This is the second recipe that I have tried and it's very YUMMY! The bread bowls were perfect for this soup. Here are the recipes:

Italian Bread Bowls - Given to me by Tara Bleazard

Ingredients:

2 (.25 oz) packages active dry yeast

2 1/2 cups warm water

2 teaspoons salt

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

7 cups all purpose flour

1 tablespoon cornmeal

1 egg white

1 tablespoon water

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.

2. Add salt, oil, and 4 cups flour to the yeast mixture; beat well. Stir in the remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time, beating well with an electric mixer at medium speed after each addition.

3. When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 6 minutes. Lightly oil a large bowl. Place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume. About 40 minutes.

4. Punch dough down and divide into 8 equal portions. Shape each portion into a 4 inch round loaf. Place loaves on lightly greased baking sheets sprinkled with cornmeal. Cover and let rise n a warm place, free from drafts until double in bulk. About 35 minutes.

5. Preheat over to 400 degrees. In a small bowl, beat together egg white and 1 tablespoon water; lightly brush the loaves with half of this egg wash.

6. Bake in preheated over for 15 minutes. Brush with remaiing egg mixture, and bake 10-15 more minutes or until golden. Cool on wire racks.

7. To make bowls: cut a 1/2 inch tick slice from top of each loaf; scoop out centers leaving 3/4 inch thick shells. Fill bread bowls with hot soup and serve immediately.

Chicken Corn Chowder - Given to me from Alisha Robison

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons butter

4 tablespoons flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

2 cups milk

1 can chicken noodle soup

1 can cream style corn

1 cup cooked chicken, diced or shredded

Directions:

Melt butter, blend in flour, salt, and pepper. Cook over low heat until smooth. Stir in milk, bring to a boil stirring constantly until thick. Add soup, corn, and chicken. Heat but do not boil. May be served over buttered toast.

10 things I enjoy most-not including Cooper

I have really enjoyed:

1. Long, warm showers

2. Dinner just Brady and I

3. sunshine

4. Nap time

5. new/fresh contacts

6. When I hear Brady pull in the driveway

7. smell of clean laundry

8. a full night sleep

9. DVR

10. bedtime

Cooper getting ready for a party

Going for a ride

The joys in life haven't changed much...just a little Cooper added within the mix.

A few new things that he has learned:

- blowing bubbles

- how to get mommy's attention (see video at bottom of post)

- sitting up on his own for a few seconds. He's been trying to do this for awhile now. He's determined!

- grabbing toys and making noise

- everything goes in his mouth...he can gag himself very well. He loves all 4 fingers in his mouth at a time

He's also:

- chewing on everything. Fingers, blankets, toys...

- drooling a lot

- a mommy's boy

- had his first kiss on Sunday!

- loves little kids (at least Makenna). They sat and giggled at each other for about 5 minutes

- he flirts with everyone. A little eye flutter, shoulder shrug, and a big grin melts everyones heart

Life is fun, interesting, and full of spit up!

Video of Cooper trying to get my attention. He even woke Makenna up - you can hear her in the background

Stretching and a first for Mommy

Cooper has always loved to stretch. He does it every time I unswaddle him and when we feed him. I decided to take some pictures of him stretching. I think they're cute/funny!

He's also been pulling his knees up to his chest and rolling from side to side. I grabbed a quick picture of him doing this when I was changing his clothes and diaper. He thinks he's so funny!

He is so much fun lately! He makes Brady and I laugh all the time with his cute smiles and giggles. He really likes to laugh. When we go for a car ride we often hear him giggle to himself. It makes me so happy to know that our baby is happy.

Also, today is the first day where I actually hurt little Cooper! I was putting him down on his play mat and somehow my ring scratched the back of his head (weird huh?) When he started crying I kept telling him "oh it's okay. You'll be fine". I tried making him laugh and nothing would help. So I picked him up and hugged him and that's when I noticed a good sized mark across his head. It was white and raised. I felt really bad after that. He then calmed down and went on with his usual happy self!

baldness

Cooper is bald...that's right his full of hair is almost completely gone! He has a thin layer all the way around and really long stuff on top. It is starting to grow in thicker but very slow. The funny thing is-I didn't even notice! I was looking at pictures from when he was born and saw all the dark hair! I thought "where did it go??".

before...

now...

These are the best comparisons I could find right now. I think it's cute he has the same expression (mouth wide open). He's also lost most of the hair on his ear and above his little bum. He has lost all of the hair on his shoulders and back. I kind of miss my hairy little boy!

Energy

Now that we have moved away from Rexburg we live all alone without any family around. I will be sure to post as many cute pictures as I can and do more videos for everyone to see.

playing

daddy/son time

loves to be naked

Bath time! It's our favorite part of the day.

He has a really long, crooked crack

Mother's Day morning-not so flattering but it's all that we have

Here is the video I mentioned in the previous post. I couldn't figure out how to rotate the video so you'll just have to turn your head. Enjoy his energy! Try to imagine this little man when he starts crawling...

3 months already??

Yup...Super Cooper is already 3 months old! Can you believe it?? He is such a goof ball too. Here are some things that are pretty amazing:

- Cooper is the happiest baby that I have ever seen! BUT when there's someone new around he just stares. I think he's taking everything in, which would make sense since it's just him and I all day long.

- He can roll over from his tummy to back. BUT only when he's just in a diaper! haha He loves loves loves being pretty much naked. Lately, whenever I let him play in a diaper and then dress him...he starts to whine/cry/fuss. I have it on video but it's not the greatest. I had music on and it's super loud over the camera so I will record another one soon.

- His bottle/milk is very special to him. When we start shaking it to mix the formula his eyes go wide open and he starts looking for the bottle. Also, when we try to burp him half way through the feeding he stiffens up and starts crying/screaming. It's extremely annoying and frustrating. I'm not sure what's going through his mind-we've always given the bottle back.

- Missy is very interesting to him. She'll go up and sniff him and he almost always has a big grin on his face. He's already grabbed her fur a few times and he looked a little surprised. He likes it when she squeaks her toys (he'll start giggling).

- He's in a phase where he stares at me wherever I am. It's not usually when he's playing but when Brady's holding him. It's pretty cute but poor Brady wishes he would do that with him.

- His favorite children's book is "Mr. Brown can Moo. Can you?" We read several times a day and every time I read this one he starts babbling and cooing through the whole book.

- He LOVES bath time still. Lately, he's been splashing and kicking around. He also enjoys having his head scrubbed. I think this has been since he was born. The pictures from his first bath are of him crying and then when they are washing his head he's calm.

- He is an expert at shooting curdled milk out his nose...this one is not a great talent to have but he does it so often I have to mention it.

-Nap time is exciting to him. I swaddle him, he smiles, then he passes out. Bed time is torture. Not sure why.

So that's a few fun facts about Cooper. He is so sweet. The boy has energy I wish I had. I'll post a video of him playing...you'll see the energy that I am talking about.

Hard Times

Lately, there have been many friends, family members, and individuals around me who have lost someone close to them. Either a grandparent, parent, sibling, child, friend, niece, nephew...it always brings back memories of when we lost our little Kegan. There are days when I struggle to hold back tears and make it through the day. I try to stay strong for Brady, Cooper, and myself. Ever since Cooper was born it has been a struggle for me. I thought that it would become easier than it was...but I find it's harder. I now know what it will be like after this life to raise him, but I often think about the "what if." What would it be like to have a boy who would be turning 3 in June? What would he look like? What would he be saying?

So, for something for me to occupy my thoughts I look at my friends blogs. Today was a special day. A lady who I barely know had this video on her blog. For a spiritual uplift I watched it. This video made me rethink my personal situation. It reminded me of how I am truly grateful to have experienced the short time with our son and the power of prayer. Today is a good day. I need to remember that I am not alone. This lady is a strong woman. She is living in pain every day and struggling with finding herself again. She is inspiring. I would imagine that my bad days would be considered a great day to her.

Quick Video

We have internet! It's not ours but it'll work until we get our own. I don't have time for a full update but here is a cute video of Cooper!